VEGETABLE COMMITTEE'S REPORT. 



85 



ably fine tubers ; these tubers had penetrated to the very bottom of the 

 trench, which was two feet six inches in length. 



I have again this year associated the yam with the ridge cucumbers, 

 and they present a healthy and vigorous appearance ; but by far the most 

 promising plants are some which have sprung from the tubers left in the 

 old beds of the year before ; these grew so luxuriantly that I was induced 

 to afford them the support of stakes, which they speedily clung to and 

 covered. I am disposed to imagine that I shall have some very large tubers 

 from these plants. 



The elegance of the foliage of the yam, and the rapidity of its growth, 

 led me to employ it as an ornamental climbing plant, and last year two seta 

 were planted and their slender shoots trained over a trellised porch. The 

 roots remained undisturbed during the winter, and this year the plants made 

 a more vigorous growth, covering the same trellis, which is eight feet high 

 and as many wide, with a profusion of graceful foliage. Within the last 

 month the yam has blossomed abundantly, and in the exceeding sweetness 

 of its tiny, unattractive racemes of flowers, it has revealed a quality which 

 I have not seen noticed, but which will make it worthy of association with 

 the more elegant and ornamental objects of the gardener's care. 



I had nearly omitted to state that the plants left in the old ridge cucum- 

 ber trench have also blossomed this season, but under a crowd of foliage 

 the bloom has been in a measure obscured and destroyed; the beauty of the 

 plant is best displayed when trained over an open trellis." 



The following is the analysis of the Chinese yam [Dioscorea batatas) 

 made by Fremy in 1854, of specimens cultivated at the Garden of Plants, 

 Paris, France : — 



Water, 79.3 



Solids, 20.7 



100.0 



The solids contain — 



Starch, 



Cellulose, 



Albuminous matter, .... 

 Fatty bodies, sugar, and soluble principles. 

 Mineral salts, 



The following is the analysis of the common potato. 



16. 

 1. 

 1.5 

 1.1 

 1.1 



Water, . 



Starch, 



Nitrogenized substances. 



Fatty matters. 



Sugary matters, 



Cellulose, 



Salts, 



20.7 



by Payen : — 

 74. 

 20. 

 1.60 

 .11 

 1.09 

 164 

 1.56 



100.00 



